Superquenching behavior between a conjugated polymer and molecular quenchers and its application in biological/chemical sensors

Abstract

The fluorescence of an ionic conjugated polymer can be efficiently quenched by the small molecular quenchers wherein one quencher molecule may quench the fluorescence of virtually an entire polymer chain. This leads to `static' Stern-Volmer quenching constants as high as 10⁷ - 10⁹ M^-1. A new class of highly sensitive chemical and biological sensors has been developed based on this unique quenching phenomenon.